Athens Walking Tours: The Experience

The choice

Athens is among the five cities with the richest history in the world. As you can imagine, we could not ignore this fact during our last trip to the capital. Everything was booked and we were ready to depart. But something major was missing in order for the puzzle to be complete…This, of course, was the tour around the most important monuments, neighborhoods and customs of Athens. How could we possibly visit such important sites without learning part of their history? So, we came in contact with Athens Walking Tours, , the largest and most organized tour agency, in order to book a few tours and get a well-rounded taste of Athens (monuments, neighborhoods, food etc.).

The tours

With more than 30 tours (throughout the whole day) Athens Walking Tours covers the needs of any visitor. The tours are more like friendly gatherings, as the groups are quite small and the atmosphere is very warm and friendly. This style makes the experience pleasant, even for the little ones of a group, who derive much and useful information, without losing their interest. Another great advantage is that the company has guaranteed the Skip line benefit for everyone, so you will not have to wait in line at all (highly useful during the summer months).

As for us, through the vast variety of tours of historical as well as mythological interest, we learned about the most important attractions/monuments of the city, like the Acropolis and its exquisite museum, the Ancient Agora, the Panathenaic Stadium and more. Furthermore, we toured beautiful places of Athens, such as Plaka, Psyrri, Monastiraki, Syntagma, Piraeus, the National Garden and the Hellenic Parliament (including the change of guard), all of these accompanied by very useful information.Food, of course, could not be missing from the Athens Walking Tours Athens Walking Tours wide range! How would you find the idea of preparing traditional foods along with the locals and then dining all together? A wine-tasting tour or a walk around the stores that the locals prefer for their shopping? Unique experiences! Lest not leave out the complete tour of flavors, markets, shops and taverns where the Athenians eat! A tour that immersed us in the Greek culinary spirit.The tour starts with a morning koulouri, fruit, halva, dry nuts, goes on with some Thessalonikian bougatsa and spinach pies and follows up with some pastrami, fine cured meats and tastes from Lesvos (with oil, cheese, feta, olives, yoghurt, spoon sweets). Later come the Greek appetizers accompanied by some wine and to top it all off the menu has kalamaki (skewered meat) in pita bread! And all of these are enriched with knowledge and much love for food! We tried them all and recommend them to you with our eyes closed…and the mouth open!

❗ Useful tip: Start on an empty stomach! Too much food, guys..Finally, it is worth mentioning that small excursions are being organized for 1-2-3 or 4 days, to amazing places outside Athens, such as Mycenae, Ancient Olympia, Delphi, Meteora, Santorini and Sounion. While the one-day trip to the islands of the Argosaronic Bay (Aegina, Poros and Hydra) is the best choice for the summer months.

The staff

The guides of Athens Walking Tours are distinguished by three significant characteristics. Inexhaustible knowledge, professionalism and much love for what they do. What impressed us the most is that they were treating us as friends and not as customers. From the very start, they wanted to teach us as much as they could and make us feel friendly and pleasant. Greek hospitality in all its glory. What stayed with us (apart from the knowledge and flavors) is the genuine smile on their faces, which would hide any tiredness that they might be feeling! (Their job is not an easy one to do for that many hours!)
All the guides, with ms. Despoina as their frontwoman, are officially certified and fully qualified, while the spark in their eyes is the vivid passion for what they do. After all, our people say that “if you are to do something, do it with passion and heart”. All the members of Athens Walking Tours have embraced this saying and give it the best they got.

The experience

The experience offered by the tours of Athens Walking Tours is excellent! They filled us with knowledge and images, made us think, see the monuments and their importance in a different view and showed us the path of flavors. A wonderful option that you should not miss out on during your visit in Athens.